DAT NICE BUNNY....

Daddy bunny thought a great place to hide Silas' basket would be in his "faveit" spot, which is behind the big fluffy chair in the upstairs family room.
He loves this spot! Whenever he's hiding, 9 out of 10 times we find him here. He crawls behind this chair to play with his "rucksh" and "bukgunsh" and "tanshfamash". Whenever there is a marker lid and a missing marker, I find it here. Whenever scissors go MIA, I find them here. It's a given that each time I vacuum behind this chair I will find remnants of candy wrappers....as well as a collage of other oddities.


I was blissfully sleeping this morning when Silas comes walking in at 7:45. "Mawnin Mom!" he says with a big blue-eyed grin. "Morning sweetheart, climbed out of your crib again I see." "Yep" with a head nod. "Git me chocet mook mom, peas?" Grrooaannnnn...."O.K." I climb out bed, drag myself downstairs, make 2 sippy cups of chocolate milk, drag myself...and Silas in tow, back upstairs to my bed and plop down. A few wiggles, kicks, rolls, jumps, and an empty sippy cup later, Silas climbs off the bed and heads toward the playroom. Within 5 minutes I could hear ruffling and the soft click of plastic. I whisper to Jason, "Oh that little turkey, I bet he's already found his basket." I roll out bed, grab the camera and call out to Silas "What are you doing Siley?" He responds "Nuffin Mom". I step into the family room, and sure enough....

He's found the mother load! Not sure if he feels happy, nervous, or guilty. Whenever there is candy in the vicinity, he has the nose of a bloodhound.

"What did you find there Silas?", "Me haff cangies mom".


"Did the Easter bunny leave you a basket of goodies?", "Yaahuh, dat nice bunny mom".


"Dis one mines teeoo mom?"
It was only a matter of time before Logan was up and the hunt was on. It's not in the shower...
not in the washer....
not in the book nook.................
not behind the chair................
not in the bench................
not under the desk......................

not in the oven................
not in the fridge................

not in the bathroom............
not in the shoe bench................
not in the toy basket..............
not in the trunk...................
maybe behind the couch...........

Is it back here?
Let's get a closer look.
Behind this curtain....
What about this one.....
FOUND IT!!!

How many pictures must a mom take to get a good one? Let's count.......

#1, Look at the camera. Now smile.....
#2, Please look at the camera, not your toys...

#3, "See my toy Mom"......
#4, Say cheese!

#5, PLEASE LOOK AT THE CAMERA AND STOP PLAYING WITH YOUR TOYS!
#6, SILAS PLEASE SIT BACK DOWN! "But me wanna see Siwas and LoLo on camma Mama."

#7 IS THE LUCKY NUMBER! Thank heavens for digital cameras!


This is what happened to the Easter basket 15 minutes after Cyclone Silo tore through it:

YEARLY FAMILY EAST EGG HUNT

Yesterday was the 30th annual "Whitby" family Easter-egg hunt. I look forward to this day each year, it's one of my favorite family gatherings. We meet at Moyle Park in Alpine at noon on the 1st Saturday of April. Family come from all over to visit this weekend. The small grove is nestled up against the Wasatch mountains right next to a big creek. There are wonderful trails for the kids to run and explore with plenty of trees, shrubbery, fallen logs, rocks and little nook and cranny's to hide all the eggs. In the small clearing next to the creek there are two fire pits, a couple picnic tables and a bench.
We lay down blankets and set up chairs around the fire to roast hot dogs. I always look forward to seeing everyone, and spending the afternoon catching up on the past year. It's tradition to find Nita's delicious baked beans, Jen's chicken and cabbage salad, and Emily's peanut butter bars. Aunt Jen and Nita fill around 60 dozen plastic eggs with candy, toys and coins, and we hide 12 dozen boiled eggs as well. You can always count on Uncle Jim to buy back some of the boiled eggs from the little kids for a quarter, for their piggy banks, of course! When I was in Jr. High Uncle Jim would hide a boiled egg painted like a black 8 ball for the older kids, always in a really hard spot. Some years we couldn't even find it, but whoever found it won $10! He has since retired that tradition, but I think it's time for me to pick it up next year. By then I think there will be some nieces and nephews and second cousins old enough for a tough egg hunt.

Here are Silas, Maggie (their cousin, my sister Michelle's daughter) and Logan....in their little fort. Let me zoom in.

STAY OUT! KIDZ ONLY! ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK! Silas....."out dad"!, Maggie- talk to the hand!

We held off the hunt for a little while because a few of the family were late. Logan was not very happy. Just look at that face! G-pa Mike was trying to cheer him up.

AND THE HUNT IS ON.............

APRIL FOOLS.....

Apparently the jokes on us! Went to bed in Spring and woke in Winter. Mother Nature gets the last laugh. She must be fighting for oxygen she's laughing so hard, "bust-a-gut" laughing I tell you.
Seriously...! 6 inches and counting.

I should forever be known as "The Snowmaker". Two years in a row now the day after I put ALL of our snow gear away; snow pants, scarves, gloves, boots, hats and heavy coats..............

we get a blizzard and it snows a foot! What happened to Spring Break? I was looking forward to nice sunshine, picnics in the park and Easter egg hunts. NOT more snow and ice, freezing temperatures and being cooped up in the house all weekend with 2 boys that are already climbing the walls suffering from "winter" fever.
Mother Nature better watch it. She's not the only mother who can pack a punch. You know they say about Karma.

SILAS, "CRACKING" ME UP...

Wednesday, March 31st: I was in the kitchen when Silas comes walking through with his truck in his hand. I was in the middle of taking a drink when I saw him and I laughed so hard lemonade came up my nose. He was driving his truck on anything he came in contact with; across the hutch, along the table, "vvrrooomm", over the counter and across the fridge "nnneeerrrr". I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a pic of him driving the truck along the wall down the hall......
Let me zoom in. This is what "cracked" me up!
I followed him around for a minute and took another picture. He said, "Mama why yew fayow me?" I said, "Honey where are your pants?", "Me took 'em offs mom, dey fawh douwn". I laughed and said, "Si, it's your diaper that's falling down, not your pants."
He turned his body to look at his bum and said, "Ooohh, k mom, me fix et." and then he attempted to pull his diaper up.

I'd like to say for the record that I do dress my children every morning and I do change diapers! Silas has no hips and it's a guarantee that at least once during the day...sometimes 3-4 times, he loses his jeans...and on occasion his diaper. If his pants aren't falling off, he's taking them off. I found a good solution, sweats and stretch pants with a tight waist and legs. On this particular ocassion I dressed him in sweats. I eventually found them upstairs in the playroom shoved in one of the baskets with the legs inside out.

RRRRAAAAAARRRRRR!!!!

Thursday, March 25th: It's 7:45 pm and we announce to the boys it's time to get ready for bed. They quickly disappear up the stairs, and I think "Wow, that was easy". Usually bedtime is quite a rig-a-marole! After five minutes we go up to check on them and all the lights are off. I flip on a light above the stairwell and instantly I hear little whispers followed by soft giggles. We quickly scan the room and find all the pillows piled high to make a barracade.

We look at each other and smile. I grab my camera and Jason begins to walk through each and every room looking for the boys. "Where did the boys go? Maybe their in the closet? Noooo. Maybe their under the bed. Gotcha!! Nope. I know, maybe their behind the door. NO! Where could they be"? All the while the giggles are getting a little louder. I hear Logan whisper to Silas, "Get ready Si, when dad comes back over here we jump out and scare him."

"RRRRRAAAAARRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

Friday, March 26th. Today as I dropped Logan off at school, we had our typical "Daily" pep-talk, be-safe conversation. I stood by the driver's side sliding door while he was unbuckling from the back seat and I told him that I loved him very much, I reminded him to be a good boy and be respectful to his teacher, to listen to her and try and do his best with all his school work. I told him how proud I am of him that he works so hard at school, and I reminded him once again to remember to stay inside the playground after school and not to leave for any reason with anyone but me. He gave me the "I know mom" look, with a little of the "ooooookkkkkkkaaaaaayyyyy, I get it", so I backed off a little and said good-bye as he jumped out of the van. I normally give him a hug and a kiss, but he immediately took off running so I gave him the space. He darted down the sidewalk, abruptly stopped, turned around and headed back toward me. "Mom, mom, wait. Don't leave. I forgot to get my hug and a kiss." It made my day, it made my week! After the best hug I've had in quite a while, he was off again and I heard Silas yell from his car seat for the first time, "I yuv yew Yogan" I was thrilled! He gives Logan hugs and kisses all the time, and tells me he loves me, but mostly after I tell him I love him, "I yuv yew teeoo momma." Today was the first time he's said it all by himself, and he meant it. Those few words gave my heart wings. As I slid behind the steering wheel and closed my door, Silas said to me "Me miss Yogan momma." I looked at his sweet face, and he really was sad. They are best buddies, and I'm the happiest mom in the world.

Wednesday, March 24th: "Rough house". The boys ganged up on dad and had a good time rolling around with him. Every once in a while Silas would run up to Jason and say "Ticko, ticko, ticko"...trying to tickle him. Jason would laugh pretty hard, not from the tickling, but from the "ticko".


Tuesday, March 23rd: "The Ritual" The following is a picture of some decorations I have on a teak bureau in my office. Silas has this very strange ritual. Whenever he finds a rubber band lying around the house he puts it around the handle of the Moroccoan crock.

Once the rubber band is on the handle, he completes the process by moving the lid from the crock to the top of the glass jar holding the orbs.

Here is a zoom of the rubber band. It really is so strange and yet funny. Sure enough once I put everything back together again, within a couple days he finds another rubber band and starts the process all over again.

Monday, March 22nd: "Got stuffed". I tried a new stuffed bell pepper recipe for dinner. It was delicious! It had a crunchy bread crumb topping with a creamed onion sauce. Even the boys gobbled them up with no question. I'll add the recipe to the blog.


Sunday, March 21st: "Cute little girl". We were playing around with a wig. We put it on Silas to see what it would be like if we had a little girl with blue eyes and dark hair someday. He made a beautiful girl.

Saturday, March 20th: "Me hiding mom". Saturdays are the worst nap days for Silas. Logan is home all day and they have so much fun together. Silas just wants to play and play and play with his big brother. Who could blame him? When nap time came around I called out his name. He knew exactly what I wanted. His child intuition kicked in, instinct took over and he high-tailed it in the other direction. A few minutes later I found him hiding under the table.


There was no coaxing him out! I finally had to move the bench, grab what I could and gently drag him out from under the table. There was gnashing of teeth, wailing, renting of clothes, you get the picture. When the screaming didn't work, he started begging, "Baa I wanna pwaaay cupo menettes mom, cupo menettes, peas mom, jus cupo menettes wiff Lo-Lo." Add to this a cheesy Chestershire grin and the combo was almost deadly....almost. I didn't give in. He'll thank me later when he hits his second wind from his nap and can once again run around the house like a wild man terrorizing his older brother. Once Silas was in bed and all was quiet, I went to check on Logan. He was in the playroom playing with his Transformers. As I walked into the room he turned to me while putting his hands on his hips and with a big sigh said, "Now THAT was drama!" I laughed out loud.

Sunday March 13: "Siley's new haircut!" He still has his beautiful curls, but he no longer looks like a girl. Jason is very relieved!